


Danganronpa - Hope's Peak International

by KeithRainbowFang



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Fangan Ronpa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:29:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25976728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeithRainbowFang/pseuds/KeithRainbowFang
Summary: Another Fanganronpa. This time sixteen students wake up in an abandoned town, exploring, killing, and solving!





	1. Introductions

Waking up is never fast. It's a moment where the brain fogs over completely. No matter how smart someone is, everyone's an idiot when they first wake up. Even Akira Sato who's in the middle of waking up while laying on the ground in a mostly empty room. Laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

After a few blinks he finally speaks. “Where am I?” He said, pushing himself up, and looking around. Trying to get a good eye on what's going on around him. It's a pretty plain room. Several posters on the wall, campaign posters perhaps, and a black wooden box with a red string around it. The walls are an eggshell with random pink, and black paint splattered around.

Without getting up Akira reached over. Fingers tapped at the edge of the box in an attempt to bring it closer. It was working. Scooting over less than an inch at a time, but traveling towards him. It wasn't long before it was close enough for him to just pick it up. The black was pretty nice, a solid texture free paint job. The only bit of color was the string keeping it shut. It was tight, just tugging at the edges didn't move it at all. The easiest way to remove it was the bow it was tied into. His finger grabbed one of the ends and pulled, watching the bow loosen before falling away. The box almost opened itself it had been under plenty of much pressure.

Inside was a letter, and a tablet.

Well now Akira was confused. Who would bother keeping as nice and expensive as a tablet in a box, and then leave that box in a room like this? Why, anyone could steal it. Even someone like Akira. He clicked the power button, and watched the screen light up. “Please enter your password” was written across the top, along with a touch keypad. Only numbers, but there was no indicator of length. Guessing it would be pretty hard.

Since typing numbers away without any clues didn't exactly appeal to Akira, he turned his attention to the letter. It was blank, no address, no intended recipient, but it was sealed shut. Rather than open it through the flap, he tore the side. There was a letter, folded to fit. The paper looked to be pretty cheap, printer paper most likely. He folded the letter and read what it said.

Dear Akira Sato the Ultimate Logician,

Congratulations. You've been invited to a one in a lifetime opportunity. The Killing game, despair city! While you're a part of the killing game you can expect many wonderful perks, including the monopad that came with this letter. The rules to this game will be delivered later, once everyone has had a chance to meet and mingle. It's only a killing game if there are others to kill after all.

To help things along, the monopad contains most of the things you'll need to play, so don't lose it. To make sure you get the most out of it, I'll be giving you a quick rundown of all its functions.

  1. A note taking app. Perfect for quick reminders.

  2. A list of the games rules, capable of being updated live.

  3. A list of your fellow game participants and some fun facts about them.

  4. A camera for taking plenty of pictures of evidence.

  5. A map of the area.

  6. A phone call feature, so you can receive announcements from anywhere.




I hope you find it as useful as I intend it to be.

Oh yeah, every students monopad was given a random code. That way you can't just take someone else's and use it all willy nilly!

Your code is: 5467

Your bestest friend,

Monokuma

This was not what Akira expected. There were a lot of extremely suspect things to consider. Not least of all was the repeated use of the term “Killing Game”. While games are usually a good thing, killing was a pretty strong modifier there. Not exactly a fun modifier either. Of course, it could be like a murder dinner. A dinner where an actor pretends to be murdered and everyone has to figure it out. It's most likely something similar to that.

More importantly, he had a supposed code for the monopad. He picked it back up, and typed in the code he was given. 5467.

The lock screen went away, and there was an odd icon. A cartoon bear, half of his face white, the other black, and an oddly shaped red eye. Like a stylized cut. Above it were a few tabs: “Student ID”, “Students”, “Snap shots”, “Map”, “Rules”, and “Notes”. Everything that was mentioned in the letter, though not in the same order. Student ID wasn't mentioned in the letter, but here it was.

With no fear in his heart Akira tapped on the Student ID tab. There was a picture of his face, and a bit of information about him. Akira Sato, the Ultimate Logician. 5'11”, 192 lbs, and finally a bar code. All of it was true, but it was still strange to see it. Apparently someone had gotten all of Akira's details. Things Akira already knew made for a pretty boring tab though, and he switched to the next. Except, Students Snap shots, Map, and Rules were completely empty. Just a blank page. The letter mentioned that the monopad could be updated remotely, that was probably why these sections were blank.

The Notes section looked like a piece of lined paper. With a little pencil icon in the corner. Tapping it revealed a few more icons, an eraser, and a marker. Akira went through and tested each of the settings. They did exactly what he guessed. Pencil made lines, eraser got rid of lines, and the marker colored a large splotch, but didn't cover over the pencil. Making it more like a high lighter than a marker. All of these were pretty useful for keeping track of notes, and emphasizing the most important ones. There wasn't anything to keep track of just yet, but if there was a game it'd probably serve to be very important.

Having looked through the box and the monopad to find, pretty much nothing. There's nothing wrong with nothing, but there's also nothing good about it. His arm hit the ground beneath him. Just laying there with his back on the ground and staring at the ceiling. He had plenty to think about him, and clearly more to do. All Akira wanted to do was lay there, and since there was no one to stop him, that was what he did.

After a few minutes Akira stood up. It was clear enough now that no one was looking for him, and any sort of organizer wasn't going to force them out here. A sort of illusion where despite not being required to participate, he still had to.

The door was a simple cheap plastic that tried to look like wood. All it would take to break the thing was a sturdy kick. Even as a pretty thin guy, Akira could probably deliver the blow himself. Breaking things before the game begun was liable to put him in the game masters cross hairs, therefore he left the door alone. Making enemies this early was a bad idea.

The hallway managed to surprise Akira. He came from a pretty normal room, but the hallway was that of a school. Posters exactly like the ones he had seen earlier decorated the walls. He'd avoided reading them before, but if they were important enough to put in the room he woke up in, and the hallway, he could at least check them out.

The first was of that same cartoon bear from the monopad with red text that read “Monokuma's watching you!” The exact same name that signed the letter. There was a pretty good chance that the game master used Monokuma as a pseudonym. The second read “Find your murder supplies and support a local business! Monomart!” Alongside a cartoon drawing of a corner store. The final poster was just as garish. “Save yourself, Kill a friend!” This drawing was a cartoon knife , splattered in blood. After that it was just the same three repeating without pattern. Barely four inches between each poster. Whoever's in charge of these really didn't want anyone to miss them.

Even ignoring the posters the hallways were extremely odd. One side had doorways, completely normal, but the other had nothing. Not windows, not more doors, just a wall and those posters. A pretty bad use of space actually. If there were rooms on the other side it made sense for them to be accessible, make more use out of the space. If there's nothing there, then windows would be nice. Get some natural light, and you don't need to have all the lights on all the time. Unless this is underground, which is a weird but not impossible direction to build a school.

Akira already didn't like it here, and it hadn't been a full hour yet.

Oddly for a game that had other students, this hallway was also pretty empty. One end was just a dead-end, decorated with more posters, and the other was a single turn right. Three doors along the wall, and Akira came from the one closest to the dead end.

Akira began his walk. Stopping at the next door to check inside. A classroom, but all the desks and chairs were on the ceiling instead of the floor. Still decorated with those ugly posters. The next door also lead to a classroom, but the desks and chairs had been built into a sort of fortress in the middle of the room. It seemed all of these rooms were pretty normal classrooms, but with odd modifications. The one Akira woke up in must have had 'no desks and chairs' as its change.

Since these two classrooms were empty, he rounded the corner and was surprised to see a few people there. Talking, exchanging information. Once one of them noticed him and looked over, everyone else did to. Kind of overwhelming to have that many eyes all pointed directly at such a lazy person. The only immediate benefit was that now he could hear what they were talking about.

“I thought you said there was no one back there?”

“I must have missed him, sorry.”

Akira didn't know who these people were, and trying to match the voice to the face with so many faces was pretty difficult. Considering how unused to talking to strangers Akira is, the task is impossible.

All he could think of was giving a little wave. Trying to defuse things and make himself look pretty reasonable to them.

While he was debating running away, one of them walked up. A woman with a blue beanie, brown hair sticking out in curls from the edges. She had a sleeveless vest over top a shirt with some logo Akira couldn't recognize it. A pretty trendy look, and her movements were practiced. Plenty of time spent in front of a mirror trying to get that walk just right.

“Hey there. My name's Amy Nasir. I'm the ultimate Vlogger!” She gave a quick pose, leaving it immediately. It seemed perfect for a snap shot. It was strange that she was another ultimate. One of those things that could be incredibly important, or a pointless detail. There was no way to tell.

“Oh, I'm Akira. Akira Sato. I guess you can call me the ultimate Logician.” He started to reach out to her, offer his hand to shake, but was interrupted by the beeping. His monopad had decided to make some noise. He pulled it out and typed in the code quickly, eager to see what changed.

“Yeah, they've been adding the others as we talk.” Amy said. Trying to be reassuring. As she said it now had her information. If the beeping indicated when it updated, than that means it updated after they swapped names. Except there wasn't really a way to look out for that with a computer. That had to be manual. Were they being watched? “It'll be pretty useful. If you forget someones name you can just quietly look it up later.”

“I'm a bit more interested in this future map than anything else. Get to see the surrounding area.”

“Maybe.” Maybe what? There was nothing to maybe about that sentence. “It's a mixer though. More important you get to know everyone else than some silly map.”

“I suppose that's true.” He sighed and started to say something else. Biting his lip to hold back. Akira couldn't be out here as his worst self without having met these people yet. It was hard, his brain was fogged with so much information, and it was impossible to sort it all out like this. It made being the ultimate Logician pretty hard.

“I'm not gonna monopolize all your time. Go on tiger! There's so many people you can meet!” She was so preppy. It was an odd feeling. For a situation so awkward that she had already adopted. Akira would have to keep an eye out for her. Danger could come from any direction.

“I uh, guess?” He said walking past her. There were three other people in this chunk of the hallway. No one looked immediately horrifying. He'd just have to pick whoever was closest and start a conversation.

The closest guy was in a pretty nice set of clothes. He had a plain white button down shirt with a nice suit jacket over top, and an oddly colorful pocket square. His hair was shaved pretty close too.

“My uh, my name is Akira Sato, the ultimate Logician.” Then he stuck his hand out. It made sense as a gesture. Offer to shake hands to someone new.

“Benjamin Wordsmith, the ultimate Linguist.” He smiled and shook Akira's hand. He was far more practiced about this. Akira cared more for the beeping of his monopad. That someone new was added meant it was consistent. An odd fact that meant, something. “Don't worry, I hate meet and greets too. Truly I don't think I've met anyone who likes them.”

“I don't know. Someone has to. Why else would people keep organizing them?”

“More like a necessary evil.” Benjamin kept his arms close to his body as he spoke. Not a big fan of gestures. “I can't think of any situation where you're just told to meet a bunch of new people without any sort of payoff or actual point. Usually it leads to something. Like this apparent killing game.”

“You must have gotten the same letter then.”

“Well we have been talking while we waited on you. Learned a few things from the others.”

“I guess I should talk to those others. See what I can learn.” With that Akira gave another short wave and walked away. There were still two more people in the hallway.

The next person he walked up to was a woman, tall, and with some pretty huge muscles. It was hard not to notice her. Any that big, let alone a woman. “Uh hi there.” Akira didn't know how to talk to anyone, let alone someone big enough to actually hurt him. It was kind of scary.

“Hi.” Her expression didn't change. Meeting Akira elicited the same emotion as if she never met him.

There was a bit of silence. Both expecting the other talk.

“My name's Akira Sato.” He said, breaking first. “I'm the ultimate Logician.”

“I'm Angela Newport. Ultimate Blacksmith.” The monopad beeped and the two of them just stood there. Saying nothing. Was she trying to understand him, or intimidate him. Either way it was making Akira nervous.

“I'm gonna go try and talk to someone else then?”

“Probably a good idea.”

Akira was glad to get out of that conversation and talk to someone else.

The only other person in this hallway was a guy in a ratty set of clothes. His jacket was almost completely destroyed, and his jeans weren't much better. He flinched as Akira approached, almost afraid of what this might bring. Even with how timid he was, he still tried to be a regular person. “I'm sorry I missed you when I was looking earlier. I thought I was thorough, but I must have just completely overlooked your room.”

“It happens. I'd probably do the same thing. My name's Akira Sato the Ultimate Logician.”

“Logician huh, that's a pretty cool ability. I can already think of thousands of situations it'd come up in.

“It does have its uses. I mean, logic does make up a lot of the world. Being able to figure out some basic information comes up pretty often.”

“I really am jealous. It's way cooler than what I can do.”

“What uh, what is your talent?”

“Oh no!” He took a step back. His face was one of shock. “I can't believe I didn't introduce myself! I'm Tom Felin, and uh, I'm called the ultimate Destruction.”

“Ultimate destruction, are you serious?!” Akira couldn't help but raise his voice, it was a pretty scary thing to be known as. What did that mean exactly? Depending on the answer changed if Tom was to be feared.

“Oh, it's no where near as cool as it sounds. Things around me just have a habit of breaking. Breaking in some pretty spectacular ways. It's not really talent as much as it, a series of coincidences.”

“That, doesn't sound good.”

“It really isn't. I've tried to be really careful, but things around me just kind of go wrong.” He let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head. “Oh, you shouldn't spend too long talking to me. Apparently the next stage of the game can't begin until everyone's met everyone. We were actually kind of concerned since everyone had all talked to each other. Honestly I was afraid I'd messed it up somehow.”

“Right, I will have to catch you later.” Tom wasn't wrong. There were plenty more people for Akira to talk to, just not in this hallway.

While he was walking away Akira gave a quick look to his monopad. He'd been so surprised to hear Tom's talent that he hadn't heard the beeping, but there he was. There all of them were, Tom, Amy, Benjamin, and Angela, all in the students section. Now that he had more data to compare it to, there was a let less in this thing about the other students than it told him about himself. His height and weight were listed, but everyone else just had a picture of their face, their name, and their ultimate talent. Whoever made these tablets probably didn't think that was too useful.

The hallway just be a u shape. There was no where to go from where Akira woke up, and then there were two right angles, both in the same direction. Though he didn't see a staircase, or any doors aside from what appeared to be more classroom doors in the hallway he was just in. Such an odd layout for a building.

The other hallway had five people in it, and these people were a little more obvious. Hell, Akira was worried he didn't stand out enough looking at them. It'd be awkward to be the only dressed relatively normally. Well as normal as sleepwear anyway.

With nothing to do but jump in, Akira jumped in. Walking up to someone and saying, “hi, my name's Akira.”

The man turned to him. His hair was pretty crazy. Red and every which way. Yet, it was the most normal thing about him. White face paint, red fake lips, and an odd puffy sort of suit. The man was obviously clown. “C Ward. The ultimate clown.” He did a sort of mock boy. Full of way too much flourish.

“I was wondering if that was a talent or a hobby.”

“Thought you might still have a chance then huh? Oh I get it, you didn't say your talent so you could pretend to be the ultimate clown.”

“Wait no that-” As Akira started to speak before a splash of water hit him in the face. It took him by complete surprise, and most of it was in his mouth. He coughed and turned away, trying to get a handle on what had just happened to him.

“I'm just kidding you!” C's demeanor changed immediately. Instead of the dour face he had a second ago. “You didn't tell me your talent.”

“Right that's my bad. Ultimate Logician. I'm uh, good with logic and stuff like that.”

“I think I can guess what a Logician is.”

“Right, sorry.” It was strange, Akira was used to getting bowled over, but something about how C was speaking both kept him from speaking, and made him want to. It was pretty hard for him to deal with. The manic energy that this clown gave off was a lot. Way too much for poor Akira.

“Oh there's nothing to be sorry for. Just having a little fun at your expense.” C said, reaching forward to poke Akira a few times in the ribs. All Akira could do was pull back and shift to keep his arms between C's fingers and his ribs. All in the name of not being tickled.

“I um, there are more people in this hallway I need to talk to.” He said, eager to leave this conversation as soon as humanly possible.

“Right-o. Now you just don't forget about ol' C Ward now huh?”

Akira moved away, quickly. If that conversation hadn't ended when it did it might have gotten violent, or at least ended with Akira in the corner sobbing.

The next person was a lot more reasonable. Another man, this one with stains on his hands and face. He yawned as Akira approached and the logician deeply understood that feeling.

“Hey I'm-”

“Number sixteen.” Said the person Akira didn't know the name of. “You make number sixteen. Probably the last. I'm Jakub Kolsky, ultimate robotic engineer.”

“Uh, Akira Sato.”

“Good. If you finish talking to everyone then we can get started. I'm already so bored...” Then Jakub looked away. Completely spacing out in the hallway. Which didn't give Akira much of a choice but to follow what he said. There were five people in this hallway and the first two were very unwelcoming.

He did learn something though. Sixteen people total, in the first hall plus him was five, this hallway had five, meaning there were another six somewhere. Pretty easy math and something he was glad to now know.

“Hey, I'm Akira?” Akira didn't want to introduce himself to someone who was reading, but there wasn't much of a choice. “Akira Sato, the ultimate Logician. I should say my whole title.”

After a moment of silence the man put a sheet of paper in his book and closed it. His hair was every which way forming thick locks that framed his face and drew attention to his thick glasses. “My name is Alexander Thurough. The ultimate Librarian. Alex is fine.” Then he held out his hand. Akira shook it and stared for a moment.

“I uh, well it's good to meet you. There are, more people though.”

“No I understand. These aren't normal circumstances.” Alex said, opening his book back up and going back to his reading.

Akira just sighed and moved on. There were two girls in this hallway. One paying him zero attention, and the other way too eager for him too approach. Watching him with wide eyes and trying to size him up? It was strange. He swallowed and debated even getting closer to the two of them when she stepped closer.

“Yves Palito at your service.” She held out her hand and Akira shook it. A strong grip, but before he could think too much about it she let go. “I am the ultimate Marketer. You my friend seem like you're in need of a brand make-over.”

“Brand makeover? I don't even have a brand.”

“Nonsense, everyone has a brand! Go on introduce yourself and I'll give critique.”

“Um, well, my name is Akira Sato. People call me the ultimate Logician.”

“And how is that any good? No ums, no wells, just say it from the gut. Try again.”

“I, uh-”

“What did I just say? Come on Mister Sato, you can do this. How about you give it a try with my new friend here.” Her arms went to Akira's shoulders, and she pushed. It was slow, making Akira walk toward the other person in the hallway. “Go on, introduce yourself. No hesitation.”

“I'm Akira Sato.” He took in a deep breath, very afraid of how this was going. “The ultimate Logician.”

For her part the other girl just looked at him. Now that he was close to her, he could see she looked pretty normal. Acid wash jeans, an oversized hoodie and a beanie? C Ward was just weird looking enough to make everyone in this hallway look strange.

Her hand went up and gave a a single quick shake. “Denise Scolin. The ultimate Retro.”

“Ultimate retro? I'm not sure what that means.”

“Retro things. Record players, cassettes, shows. Technology that we've lost track of but still has much to teach us.”

“That does make sense. I can get why you'd think that.”

Instead of responding she gave him a thumbs up. Which Akira took to mean that this conversation was over. Not that he could walk away with Yves's hands firmly on his shoulders. He looked back at her and gave a sort of nervous look. Waiting to see if she'd let him go or try to drag him into another terrible introduction.

“I suppose that's good enough for now.” She sighed, seeing his worry. Her hands dropped away and she let Akira go. “This isn't the end of it though. I still want to see you improve. We'll make a product out of you yet.” She gave him a quick slap to the back, pushing him forward again.

After stumbling from Yves's hands he walked forward and to the corner. Instead of the next hallway expected there was a door. A thick chestnut brown door. Jakub said there were sixteen total, and there was only one place for the remaining six students.

Akira reached down and opened the door. Instead of a long hallway, this was an entry way. A pretty big one at that. He could see the entrance, a set of large double doors, except they were covered completely in barbed wire and steel walls. They weren't getting used any time soon. Across from Akira was a similar chestnut brown door, and across from the entryway was a series of doors side by side. The row of doors clearly lead to the same place, they were too close not to.

He had to know where these doors lead. The first one he tried, was locked. So was the second, and the third, and the rest of them. Each one giving the distinctive clang of a strong door look when he tried to give it a good shake. Wherever this group of doors led, Akira wouldn't be finding out any time soon.

The only way to go was the other chestnut door. With a heavy sigh. Now that he knew he couldn't follow the many doors he only wanted to see what they hid. There were secrets beyond those doors, and just six more people this way.

The hallway wasn't a surprise. It was the same overdone trash as the last two he'd been in. With six people. A small consolation prize that Akira wouldn't have to look all over to try and find them. Like the previous two hallways, the people here seemed surprised to see him, but not unwelcoming.

“Hello there!” A woman said walking up to him. Akira didn't have to start the conversation this time. “I'm Wednesday Bolt. The ultimate mythologist.”

“Uh, Akira Sato. The Ultimate Logician.” He replied. Pretty used to how this went.

“Perfect. Now that everyone's been found we can get started. I've been so bored.”

“You've been bored?”

“Well yeah. It's boring waiting to start. There's bound to be plenty of fun once things actually kick off. I can't imagine this many ultimates would be in one place and things still be boring.”

“Maybe? Mostly it just seems, crazy right now.”

“Well the welcome letter did mention a killing game. I'm pretty excited to find out what that is.” Her smile was large and genuine. It was odd seeing someone this happy in such a weird place. If anything she seemed more excited that things were going to get going. Even with the title killing game hinting that this would be very, very murder focused. “I can't take all of your moments. Go on, talk to everyone!” She called out. Giving him a hard slap to the shoulder.

Akira followed her instructions, rubbing his shoulder as he walked away. Giving a more half-hearted wave the usual to the next closest person. “Uh hi. Akira Sato the ultimate Logician.”

“Mariah Satel.” She yawned out. She was wearing overalls and quite messy. “Ultimate civil engineer. No I doubt I can help you with anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“A lot of people look at the talents like, 'what can you do for me?' The answer for my talent is nothing. It's designed for large groups of people, not one of moments with others.”

“Okay then.” Akira said. Looking at Mariah and hoping she'd say something more. Instead the long silence told him the conversation was done.

It was kind of awkward. The way Akira tried to step around Mariah. She wasn't exactly willing to move for him, and he had to get around her.

The nearby gentleman was wearing a rather skin tight suit. A bright purple one with plenty of little dazzle-y bits. He was also pretty clearly wearing make-up with perfectly rosy cheeks and strong eye shadow. Tons more as well, Akira just didn't know what any of it was called.

“Hey there.” He said, trying to be polite in this terrible situation.

“Why hello there.” He said, turning to face Akira. He seemed polite enough.

“What's your name?”

“It's rude to ask that.”

“I, wait what?” Akira stepped back. Now more confused than ever.

“If you're going to ask someone for their name, it's polite to give your own first.”

“Oh right, sorry. I'm Akira Sato. The ultimate Logician.”

“I am Sebastian Reaulx, and I am the ultimate acrobat.” He stepped back and gave a deep bow after giving his name. Dipping down deeper than most people could while still standing upright. Then he slowly came back up, standing at his full height. “I must admit. It's annoying that none of us ultimates have heard of each other. Usually talents draw attention to themselves, and I know for a fact I've done plenty of shows.”

“I mean, that is something to consider. It could just be that those who recognize each other haven't said anything.”

“True. I just figured if you know logic, you could probably have figured out that particular puzzle of mine.”

“I'd need to know a lot more to say anything for certain.”

“Keep me informed. I bid you adieu for now.” He gave a small wave and Akira walked on.

Next was a woman in a rather large and puffy coat. Clicking again and again on a dead phone. It was rude to interrupt, but it wasn't like he had much of an option.

“Hey there. I'm Akira Sato. The Ultimate Logician?” He said, leaning over and trying to polite to this texting addicted girl. For her part she just stood there, continuing to tap. After a length sigh, she put her phone away and gave him a smile.

“I'm Bliss Mcaulan!” She said, giving a wide smile with her eyes closed. “This ultimate thing is weird, but I was told my talent is that I'm the ultimate lucky student.”

“Lucky student? Your talent is being lucky?”

“So they run this whole lottery thing. Whoever wins it gets the luck title. Pretty simple huh?” She put the phone into her pocket, her large smile never fading.

“That does sound kind of interesting. Does uh, does your luck mean anything else?”

“Nope!” Bliss said, as if that by itself was a complete thought. Which, it kind of was. In the most literal and least useful sense.

“Well, I've got a few more people to talk to.”

“Okay, love you, bye!” She called. Giving a quick kiss to the air and pulling her phone back out. Her hands pressing the power, then home button. Tapping away.

Akira almost walked into the next person. A woman with a cowboy hat. She already looked done with Akira, especially with his lack of attention to the world around him.

“Uh, sorry about that, I'm-”

“I heard from earlier.” She just looked at him, dead in the eyes. Akira shifted nervously under this attention. Was she trying to test him somehow? Her gaze seemed as though it hide thousands of thoughts. All of them about Akira, and absolutely none of them positive. “I'm Laura Oak. The ultimate Aim.”

“That seems, dangerous.” He offered. Remembering for about the nineteenth time that everyone was here for a supposed killing game. The type of thing where good aim was helpful.

“Are you sayin I can't handle it?” Her voice was a snarl, ready to rip him into thousands of pieces.

“No, I meant for me.” He stepped back. Staying more than an arms reach away from Laura, which with her short stature, was not actually that far away.

She didn't respond to this correction. Instead just grumbling and giving him the eye. As good a sign as any that Akira should move on.

The last person in this hallway was a man. Pretty simple clothing all things considered. Where Akira expected another rag tag person was, any random guy off the street. Hell even Akira's pajama look seemed crazy next to this person.

He gave a short wave, keeping his elbow close to his body. “I'm Akira Sato. The ultimate Logician.”

The man looked around nervously and then gave a similar wave. “I'm Akira Sato. The ultimate Logician.” Now that was a curious statement. Akira raised an eyebrow, and Akira copied the motion like a mirror. A shake of the head and the Akira's leaned in to examine the other.

“Are you messing with me?” There was only a half beat of a delay between the two of them. Barely enough to tell which one was speaking first.

“I kind of am.” The second Akira said, pulling back and yawning. “I'm Matt Delough. The ultimate Impersonator.”

“Oh that, that makes sense. You were, uh, using me for practice?”

“Not practice, someone like you isn't particularly hard to mimic.”

“Thanks?”

“Not a compliment.”

Akira was about to open his mouth to complain when he heard a few beeps from his monopad. Different from when it registered a new student. From everyone else's reaction, their monopad was making the same noise.


	2. Prologue part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that everyone has been introduced, it's time for the rules.

Akira pulled out his monopad. The beeping noise it was making sounded quite like a phone ringtone. The screen was that cartoon bear from earlier. Rocking back and forth in time with the beeps. Above and below were text that read “Standby for Announcement!”

Just as Akira started to wonder what this announcement could be, the screen changed. It was completely black and a child like voice came from the monopad. “It's time to go over the rules for our wonderful killing game! Everyone meet up in the auditorium!” The screen went completely black after that. He'd heard a similar message from all of the other monopads nearby.

“Where's the auditorium?” Bliss asked. Looking at the others in the hallway.

Mariah just sighed and walked on. “The rows of closed doors obviously. Where else would it be?” She was walking with such confidence that her steps echoed back to the rest of the students in the hallway.

Everyone else started to follow. Just one, then two, and finally Akira was alone in the hallway. Not that he was alone for long. Once he saw everyone was leaving he was quick to follow. Getting right back into march step with the group. A few of the people from the other hallway were also making their way into the foyer. Everyone spilling in.

Just as Mariah suggested, the doors were open now. Leading into what was clearly an auditorium. In front was a stage with plenty of lights, and row after row of red upholstered theater chairs aimed at the stage. The kind where the seat can switch between horizontal and vertical depending on use.

Everyone was just standing in the walkways. Looking around and trying to decide if they should sit. It was until a few of them, Mariah, Jakub, Bliss, and C, sat down that everyone else felt comfortable enough to take a seat. All silent and waiting for the next thing to happen. Even though none of them had an idea as to what that next thing was. A large group of students all doing, nothing.

Thankfully something happened. All the lights went out. Well thankful implied the people were glad this happened. Instead there were a couple yells followed by murmurs and others complaining out loud. When the lights came back up the stage was different. Now there was a table with a stuffed bear sitting on it. Half black and half white, clearly related to the cartoon bear that was on everything. Hell it was the same bear, with a body instead of the cutesy pure head icon look the other images had.

“Is this a mascot?” Yves asked. Clearly unimpressed.

“I'm no mascot! I'm the headmaster!” It shouted back in a sort of squeaky voice. The voice fit, but everyone still recoiled. The idea that this thing could speak was a surprise, and so was the sass. In fact, if a list was made of all the things students guessed would happen, a talking bear claiming to be the headmaster would not be on the list.

“How the hell is our headmaster supposed to be a bear?” Tom shouted.

“Maybe it's a puppet?” Bliss suggested.

“I'm not puppet!” He shouted. Not happy with this conversation. “I am your headmaster. I have full autonomy in all the decisions I make too!”

This earned plenty of complaints from among the students. None of them happy with this, or believing that a bear was their head master. Now the crowd was full of arguments about what this could mean instead of the earlier confusion. No one was happy about the idea of some bear being their headmaster.

“Hey Everyone! I'm still talking here! This is your damn orientation. How are any of you supposed to get used to your new school life if you spend the whole time yelling at me!” The bear yelled. Already done with the shenanigans of this group of students.

“School life?” Tom asked. Trying to get more information.

“Stop asking questions! I'm about to explain things!” He shouted again. Then he took in a deep breath. Instead of the sound of exhaling, it was an odd sort of whirring that betrayed the headmasters mechanical insides. “I am headmaster Monokuma. I am here to make sure that your school life is a wonderful one. For the remainder of your school life you will not be allowed to leave this town.”

There were a few complaints, though Akira didn't find that too bad of a restriction. It made sense to him that a school would want to keep its students closed. His bigger complaint, was that he couldn't remember signing up for a school like this.

“Stop talking!” Monokuma shouted again. “I feel like a broken record instead of your wonderful headmaster. I'm trying to explain to you all what this is about. The whole point if this school is to make sure that only the most amazing of students graduate. Of course it's so hard to figure out which students are really worth allowing to graduate. That's why I have the perfect method.” He was silent. The crowd full of people who wanted to speak, but didn't want to be yelled at for speaking out of turn.

“Murder.”

A chill ran over the students. Each one silent. Akira could feel his mouth go dry at the terror. The letter had mentioned a killing game, and now here was the headmaster trying to explain part of what that meant. That the students were expected to commit a murder.

“I'm not going to go over all the rules to this game right now.. Not when you all have a fancy monopad that I can update to contain them. Instead I'll just tell you what you need to know immediately. You students are only allowed to graduate if you kill another student and get away with the act. Strangling, stabbing, burning, crushing, I'm not picky. I just want you all to kill to succeed.”

“Why, why the hell would we do that?!” It was Akira's turn to speak out. Yelling at Monokuma with this sudden frustration.

“Because it's the only way you get to leave. Even if you think you're not going to kill, who's to say that everyone else will feel the same way? At a certain point, killing someone else just becomes survival!” Monokuma laughed after saying that. “I really do recommend reading over the rules in your monopad when this is over. I'd hate to fail someone for the silly reason of breaking a rule.”

“Someone has to come for us. Someone must realize we're here!” Tom shouted again.

“Why's that? What promises any of you escape? I've got this whole place planned out. Speaking of, right next to this school is where you'll be staying. A nice hotel with a fully stocked kitchen. There's a room for each of you. Don't think you can avoid coming here though. Whenever there's an announcement they'll be here in this room. Got to have a nice place for everyone to meet up after all.” He let out another laugh. Now looking out over the students. Waiting for one of them to interrupt. When no one had anything to say in response to these shocking events, he shrugged. The lights went off, and when they came back on, he wasn't there.

It was silent now that Monokuma was gone. Everybody sitting there thinking of what they learned and wishing there was an easy explanation.

Akira opened his tablet and checked the rules section. It had been updated, probably while Monokuma was talking to all of them.

  1. Students are required to live in this city for the foreseeable future

  2. Nighttime is from 9pm to 7am. During these times some buildings are unavailable.

  3. Sleeping anywhere but your hotel room is prohibited

  4. Trying to get past the yellow barriers will result in punishment

  5. Damaging any of the surveillance equipment will result in punishment

  6. Violence against Monokuma will result in punishment

  7. If a student kills another student they become blackened

  8. After three or more students 'discover' a body, the body is officially discovered

  9. A while after the body is discovered there will be a trial

  10. If after the trial students discover who is the blackened via majority vote, the blackened will be punished

  11. If the blackened is not discovered, every other student is punished and the blackened graduates

  12. More rules may be added as necessary




*all punishments will be resolved with the death of the offending party.

Twelve rules. Not as complicated as some handbooks that Akira had seen in the past, but these simple rules pretty much only allowed for murder. No self improvement, or learning like a school building should be. Hell it seemed more like the school part of it was just an excuse to have a headmaster. The rules didn't even mention him as headmaster, it only referred to them as students.

Akira looked around. No one else seemed to know what they should be thinking concerning this whole thing. It was a mire of confused feelings over a crowd. Nervous glances between each person. There was a common thought on everyone's mind, “who here is going to try to kill me?”

It wasn't the most sane thought, but it was common ground between the group. Not exactly a bonding activity.

While everyone was sitting there thinking, trying to figure out what their next move should be, everyone's monopad made a noise. A piercing beep through the silence.

In time everyone pulled their monopad. Revealing a notification that read “Nighttime starts in thirty minutes”. A good reminder considering that some places weren't open at night. Possibly including the auditorium they found themselves in now.

Akira watched someone walk out of the auditorium. Then another. Most of the people were staying behind. Unwilling or unable to act somehow. Akira decided to leave, he couldn't see much of a point staying in this auditorium the whole time.

The doors that were covered in steel plates only a moment ago were completely clear now. No sign of the plates or barbed wire. Almost as though it had never been there. The real issue had more to do with how it was moved without making a noise. Monokuma wasn't that loud and Akira would have heard the metal moving. It had to be done carefully, and this mystery started to annoy Akira.

The doors were open, he couldn't spend too long standing alone in a foyer trying to figure out what caused this strange subtraction. If Monokuma was to be believed, there was a hotel room he was supposed to stay at.

It was dark outside. That was the first thing he noticed leaving the building. Darkness with the only lights coming from the school behind him, and a few far off in the distance.

Outside the school was an abandoned street. Asphalt full of cracks and large holes. Small bits of paint, mostly faded. It didn't look like the type of road anyone would take their car down. On one end of the road was a yellow road block. The paint was uneven and formed globs. It must be one of the yellow barriers the rules mentioned. The other direction, kept going for a bit. There was an empty lot by the school and Akira couldn't see past it, not in this darkness. There were lights that way, too weak to give details.

Akira stepped onto the uneven road. Headed to the lights. A slow pace, there was no hurry yet. For now it was him, and the silence.

Plenty of people think well in a silent world. Unable to hear others, the hectic chaos of the world. He thought better alone, alone where people couldn't bother him. Walking on this road was the feeling of being watched. His brain was running in circles, trying to figure out where he should even begin thinking. He was the ultimate Logician, and he needed his usual set-up to think.

This anxious feeling of being watched was good for one thing though. He had reached the end of the road in what felt like moments. Here was a hotel, a nice glorious thing in contrast to the school that was falling apart nearby. Red bricks walls, a glass door, and two bright lights illuminating not the building, but the path leading inside.

The inside was as nice at the outside. A quaint little carpet in a lobby full of fake plants. There was a desk with a computer behind it. Keyboard at the ready, but no person to run it. On the table was a bunch of keys. Each one had a key chain with a plastic square attached, and a different number on each square. Thirteen keys were here, and the numbers were mostly in a sequence. Next to them was a sign, adorned with the same cartoon bear. “Only take one! Or else!”

Akira grabbed one at almost random. Number 3.

To the left was a dinning area. The chairs were on tables, and a propped up sign read “unavailable during night time!” It seemed like a pretty interesting place. Food, seating, cooking supplies. Being closed for now meant that exploring had to wait.

To the right, was a staircase. The terrible carpet extended to the stairs. Up, to the right, and then up again lead to a hallway. The same carpet, and plenty of doors. Each door had a number, one through sixteen. Guessing they were related, Akira went to door number three, and tried it with the key. There was the familiar ka-chunk of a lock. As was expected.

The room looked like a normal hotel room from there. A short hallway with a bathroom attached, with a toilet and bathtub. Further in, was a bed, a bedside table with a lamp, and an alarm clock on it, and a monitor.

Akira turned around and locked the door. It was time to let his head actually clear itself. He took the lamp, his monopad, and clock, and set them in down on the floor, before sitting among them. It looked like a sharing circle, if three of the members weren't inanimate objects.

“Alright, let's get this meeting start.” Akira spoke. Taking in a deep breath and looking over the things that were here around him. “Akira Sato the ultimate Logician, ready to go.”

“Desk Lamp, ready to go!” The voice was clearly that of Akira's. He had changed his voice somewhat to become that of someone else.

“Monpad, ready to go!” Still Akira speaking, attempting to mimic the voice of monokuma. It was not a good impression.

“Alarm clock, ready to go!” Another voice, different from the others, and still coming from Akira.

“Alright, it's time to figure out what's going on. I have a lot of questions, and it's our job to figure out some answers.” Akira spoke. Using this sort of round table as a method of talking to himself, while pretending not to be him. “Our first question, is why a killing game?”

“Because it's fun!” Said the Monopad, being shaken gently to pantomime speech.

“I don't think we can know.” The desk lamp said. “We saw bits and pieces, but all the important details are hidden away!”

“What important details?” Akira asked, his eyebrows narrowing.

“Like weapons, duh. How can you have people kill each other, if there aren't weapons!” The monopad had taken the position of someone who liked the killing game.

“Or, or, maybe the whole place is covered in them, and we'll be surprised.” The alarm clock was acting scared. The fearful option.

“If surprise is the point, why spend so long making rules?” Akira countered. Being negative could be helpful in finding the worst outcome, but sometimes that didn't make sense.

“The rules seem awful important.” The lamp chimed in.

“Duh, it's a killing game, not a battle royale! There's so much more depth to a killing game.” The monopad countered.

“But why care so much about them?” The lamp didn't let up. “It'd be easier to not have such an in depth rule system. What makes it necessary?”

“Maybe how the rules are enforced requires them to be strictly defined?” Akira offered. “Like, whoever is running this needs to know exactly what might happen in order to actually make it work?”

“Who requires exact orders?” The alarm clock said. Shrinking away as they spoke.

“Robots?” The lamp suggested.

“There is a roboticist!” The monopad added. “Maybe he's in charge?”

“Not something I can discount.”

“Unless maybe they only want you to distrust him? Make him an easy target. Oh no, what if that gets him killed?!” the alarm clock freaked out. Letting loose a wail.

“It's something to consider, but if no one else suspects him of being in on it, then is it a good distraction?” Akira answered. Letting his actual opinion into the fake opinions that he was making while pretending to be other things.

“Who says the person running this is good at what they do? Maybe the kidnapping part is all they're successful at.” The lamp replied as the voice of reason.

“Very true. It's possible that this won't go well.” Akira nodded, trying to give off this sort of sage energy while he thought about this.

“I don't think we have enough information.” The alarm clock said. “I'm afraid we'll have to play along to better our understanding. Oh I really won't want to.”

“That is the current worst case. I think I'm too tired to make any good deductions right now anyway. I'm too tired.” Akira sighed, looking at the things he'd gathered, and not faking a response from any of them. He had suspicions, but nothing concrete. His current plan was to play along and see what more he could learn from this.

For now though, for now he needed sleep.


End file.
